I’ve used this MIDI, and the author(s) did an outstanding job! I modified a lot of things, but the hardest part was already done.
I’ve used a lot of IK Multimedia software this time: Hammond B-3X, MODO Bass, and the guitars were recorded with AmpliTube (for the first time for me). The drums were done with DrumGizmo using the CrocellKit.
I used Ardour to track, mix, and do all MIDI editing. (No more problems with MIDI for me in version 7.2!) The plugins were mostly LSP, x42, OvertoneDSP, and u-he.
I have no blog post for this one, as I am waiting for some tracks from a friend to make a final version, maybe with vocals. But I was impatient and recorded all the parts myself and thought I would go ahead and share it.
Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. This might be one of my better mixes, but I still struggle with it and suggestions are always welcome!
Hi, nicely done. I wish I could play guitar like that.
Regarding the overall sound: for my taste, the lead guitar is slightly too much in the background, either because of too much reverb or because it’s just a bit too quiet compared to the organ.
Regarding DrumGizmo, I would propose to do some manual velocity adjustments on the MIDI notes. Especially the snare roll parts sound very robotic and I think they will improve when you keep the standard velocity only for the “on-beat” hits, while reducing the velocity for the “in-between” hits by around 30% (while also keeping sure, that subsequent snare hits also differ a bit in velocity).
Believe it or not, the velocities for those rolls are very far apart already! But I agree with you that they sound mechanical. I will go back to them and see if I can improve them. There was a thread in LinuxMusicians about DrumGizmo’s velocities that did make me think I should try to tweak the velocity curves.
About the leads: I do tend to like solos and vocals a bit more “tucked in” than most, but maybe this one is a bit too much. I will listen to it again and see if I should do something about it.
Again, thanks for the comments and for taking the time to listen and reply!
I tried this morning to improve the snare rolls. I think it still does not sound very realistic, but maybe it is a bit better… Here is the new version.
Hi, well as usual you have done a flawless production and the performance and mix are impeccable. The guitar work is enviable!
As far as the drums you’ve done an excellent job and I personally don’t know how anyone could ever do Ian Paice justice with programmed drums no matter what… he plays with such swing and is known for jumping from straight to triplet time quite often in his drum fills… I feel recreating something like this by a group that were such a bunch of headstrong individuals a bit of an unwinnable challenge so I’m assuming it was just as much about the exercise of skills and knowledge and love of the song as creating a definitive new version. It very much succeeds as a demonstration of your musical skills!
Thank you so much, Glen! I really appreciate your very kind words, and you taking the time to listen and comment!
Indeed, Ian Paice is one of my all time favorite drummers, and agree 100% with your comment. In fact, I am a huge Deep Purple fan! They were the band that first drove me to learn the guitar, and I always loved this song, especially the drumming!
But note that most of the programming was not done by me. I used a MIDI file I found online, this one to be precise. Whoever really made it indeed did a truly fantastic job! I edited it a lot (a lot of “humanization” and a few changes), including programing the backing for the extended solo at the end, but the hard part was already done.
